The present invention relates to a cabinet opening structure in a mechanical apparatus provided with a sheet member transporting unit and, more particularly, to an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile and a copying machine having the above-described opening structure.
In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, a sheet member (i.e., a sheet of paper) is supplied to an image forming unit from a sheet supplying tray disposed at a lower portion inside of the apparatus via a transportation path. The sheet supplying tray is adapted to previously contain therein the sheet member for use in image formation. In the sheet supplying tray are normally contained the standard-sized sheet members frequently used, on which an image is easily formed and which is favorably transported.
After the image formation in the image forming unit, the sheet member is discharged outside of the image forming apparatus. In recent years, the complexity of the image forming apparatus has increased, and it is desirable that the image forming apparatus should have the functions of a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile and the like in combination, and that the sheet members to be discharged should be classified according to the image forming function, thereby obtaining an image forming system easy to be used. In order to achieve such an image forming system, for example, there has been proposed an image forming apparatus configured such that discharge ports, through which the sheet member in the image forming unit is discharged outside of the image forming apparatus via the transportation path, are disposed on both sides of the apparatus body, thereby facilitating the classification of the sheet members.
Furthermore, the image forming apparatus has been made to cope with space saving by reducing the size of the image forming apparatus or an area occupied for installation. Therefore, the transportation path in the image forming unit in the image forming apparatus is changed from a lateral orientation to a longitudinal or vertical orientation. Thus, the number of image forming apparatuses having the transportation path of the longitudinal or vertical orientation has become increased in recent years.
In this manner, in the case where the transportation path in the image forming unit is oriented longitudinally, there can be configured a short transportation path for transporting the sheet member to the image forming unit from a sheet supplying device disposed at the lower portion in the image forming apparatus. Moreover, there is an advantage of efficient arrangement of the sheet supplying device, a sheet discharging tray unit for classifying the sheet members and stacking them thereon, a post-processing device and the like.
However, since the transportation path is formed near a side surface, an access must be made to the image forming apparatus not in front of the image forming apparatus but from the side surface thereof in the case where the sheet member is jammed on the transportation path. Therefore, such a trouble is solved by opening a side cabinet in many cases.
In the conventional image forming apparatus, when operation is carried out in the above-described manner in the state in which the side cabinet is opened, a recovery operation such as jamming processing for taking out and removing a sheet member jammed on the transportation path is performed by rotating an operating member such as a knob for turning transporting means such as a transporting roller or a fixing roller housed inside of a frame in an image forming unit after the side cabinet is opened (see, for example, paragraphs [0050] and [0052] and FIGS. 3 and 5 in the specification of JP-A No. 2002-274693).
Moreover, in the case where the front cabinet is first opened when the recovery operation is carried out, the recovery operation cannot be carried out. Therefore, the fact is notified that the recovery operation cannot be carried out unless the side cabinet also is opened, for example, when the front cabinet is opened (see, for example, paragraphs [0011] and [0012] and FIG. 3 in the specification of JP-A No. 11-160948).
However, in the image forming apparatus disclosed in JP-A No. 2002-274693, since the operation for taking out the jammed sheet member from the transportation path by operating the operating member such as the knob disposed inside of the apparatus body after the side cabinet is opened is performed from a position in front of the image forming apparatus, it has been difficult to find the knob or the like disposed inside of the apparatus body, and further, the operation has not been easy.
In contrast, as disclosed in JP-A No. 11-160948, in the case where the knob or the like is operated in front of the image forming apparatus, the front cabinet must be opened owing to the relationship of a position at which the knob is disposed (i.e., a position of a transporting roller member which must be rotated) and therefore, both of the front cabinet and the side cabinet must be opened. In other words, since two operations must be performed, considerable work has been required for the recovery operation.